Hardened Tears
by TossingTheScissors
Summary: A companion to Ocarina of Time. What happened to each of the characters after the game, and do their life stories ever intertwine again?


Hardened Tears

By TossingTheScissors

(Based on the original fanfic by OurQuiverOf8)

Prologue: Link's Freedom

"A bit to the left," Zelda said in a low, thoughtful tone. She stared at the painting. Link insisted he had out it up straight, but to her eyes, it looked extremely crooked. Link grudgingly obeyed her command and tilted the painting. Zelda smiled. "There, perfect."

The painting was a drawing of Link and Zelda they had just had made by a caricature artist on the streets of Hyrule Castle Town. Link had hated the idea but Zelda insisted they pause for the painting so she could hang it up in her room – she had known the exact spot where'd she put it the moment they had gotten it.

"Isn't it amazing, Link?" Zelda said, gazing at the cartoonish image of Link in the painting with a dreamy look in her eye.

"Yes, it's amazing." Link said blandly, and he let out a huge sigh of relief, collapsing on one of the familiar plushy chairs in Zelda's room. "I just wish putting up a painting wasn't such an ordeal for you."

"Well, I can't let anything mess up my feng shui!" Zelda said in a matter-of-fact tone. "You know, you don't seem too enthusiastic about all the fun we had this afternoon…"

"To tell you the truth, I'm not. Watching jugglers and being drawn in a painting by a street bum are not my ideas of fun," Link stood up and headed over to Zelda's door, clasping it and firmly pulling it open.

"Where are you going?" Zelda asked, obviously hurt by Link's comments. Didn't he like spending the day with her in the castle town.

"I'm going down to feed the horses," Link said, and with that plain sentence he left, slamming the door behind him.

Standing in front of the horses and preparing their evening meal of oats and grain, he wished he hadn't been so rude t Zelda about the painting, and he wished he had explained himself better.

The fact was, Link had grown up in the forest and the little time he had spent outside of it in his lifetime he had spent wandering all about Hyrule. Link just wasn't a city person – he couldn't take the constant noise, the constant commotion – and the strangely anchored feeling it gave you to be rooted to the streets of one city. Link longed to be free – to frolic in the Kokiri Forests where he grew up. Btu not only that. Link longed for the days of solving riddles inside ancient temples and protecting Hyrule from impending evil.

But those days were gone forever, as Link constantly had to remind himself. Ganondorf was defeated and nothing interesting would probably ever happen to him again.

Zelda was being too constricting with him, Link decided while thinking the situation over. She was a nice enough girl, very pretty and a good friend – but Link just didn't want to live the same kind of life she did. Diplomacy and living the "high life" weren't for him – he would always feel trapped whenever he was in between four walls, always long for the feel of soil between his toes and to smell fresh air filling his lungs.

Link longed to be free, and Zelda couldn't understand anything like that.

"You understand, though, don't you girl?" Link said as he lightly rubbed the back of Epona, his favorite horse. Strangely, he felt more of a bond with the horse than he did with Zelda.

Link smiled. Why not take Epona around for a quick ride? He thought. Soon, he found himself attempting climbing on top of the horse, but struggling to get on top.

"Still not tall enough to get on the horses?" a girl's voice cried out, startling Link and causing him to lose his grip on the horse and collapse to the ground.

"Malon!" Link said, standing up and beaming. The answer had been so obvious and he had been overlooking it. Malon was a girl who had been raised on a farm her whole life – certainly she would be someone with whom he shared interests, with whom he could relate, with whom he could explore the great outdoors.

"Good to see you, Link!" Malon said with a sly smile. She came up and embraced Link and he heartily returned the favor.

"I thought you might be out here – and I also thought you might want to come out to the lake with me?" Malon gave a sweet smile and Link returned one.

"Sure, Malon!" Link said. Everything is working out perfectly, he thought. He would finally be free of Zelda's tightening grip and free to be with someone with whom he had a little more in common.

Link hopped on top of Epona with ease now that Malon had restored his energy and helped Malon up. They rode of towards Lake Hylia, laughing and making jokes the whole way.

Link felt the wind in his face, felt the gentle up and down of the galloping Epona he was riding, heard Malon's soft voice talking with him in his ear. Link felt free and alive for the first time in a long while. For all he cared, Zelda didn't exist anymore. Maybe he'd never see her again. Link was caught up in the moment and he felt alive.

If only he had known what waited for them both at the lake…


End file.
